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4wd + snows = mmmm good, get the snows.
I have personal experience with Nokian NRWs, Nokian Haka Qs, and Gislaved Nordfrosts and Eurofrosts on my different audi quattros. I even put some Cooper weathermaster snows on my 4wd suburban and it made a substantial difference from the normal tires. All are a step above an all season. Haka q's are better on the ice/snow than NRWs, NRWs are a good compromise if you will be driving on dry pavement. I've heard good things about graspics. Blizzaks rule the ice from my experirnce on the ice track in steamboat springs, but watch out for the multicell compound ones. They are awsome, but wear pretty fast and become and all season when the good rubber is gone.
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Agency panel seeks ban on studded tires
Transportation commission will seek legislative action
Originally published Thursday, October 16, 2003
Olympian Staff, Wire Services On the Web
The Washington Transportation Commission wants the Legislature to ban studded tires in the state.
The tires, which are allowed in the winter, cause about $10 million in road damage every year, commission members contend.
The commission, which serves as the board of directors for the Department of Transportation, met in Olympia on Wednesday.
The panel voted to send a bill to the Legislature to ban the tires. Studded tires have been debated in the Legislature for years.
One South Sound resident hopes success will come this session.
"I grew up in snow states -- upstate New York, Wisconsin -- and they never had lug tires or studded tires there," said Tom Laffey, who lives outside Tumwater. "I feel Washington is incurring a lot of additional expense. People down here use them, like, once in a blue moon to go over to Eastern Washington. The rest of the time, they just tear up the streets."
Lighter-weight stud
In 1999, the state Department of Transportation urged the Legislature to require a lighter-weight stud as a way of keeping roads from deteriorating so quickly.
A bill that phased in the lighter-weight studs eventually was passed, making Washington's law consistent with those in Idaho and Oregon.
The elimination of studded tires was stated as a goal in an extensive report on state transportation issues undertaken by the governor's Blue Ribbon Commission on Transportation in 2000.
Legislation to impose a fee on the sale of studded tires was introduced but didn't pass in the 2001 and 2003 sessions.
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I did notice a couple years ago when I was in Seattle for a few weeks in February - it seemed like EVERYONE had studded tires. Made me wonder how many of those people actually needed them. I can see how it would tear up the roads.
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So that explains why my pops thinks studded is the only way to go. He grew up and worked a lot of his life in Seattle and B'ham.
Now it all makes sense, he is just part of that Washington group.
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